


and there was only one tent

by Dead_wood



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Blushing, Camping, Cuddling, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Reluctant Cuddling, but so is cherry, joe is a bastard, sharing a room (kind of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29788332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dead_wood/pseuds/Dead_wood
Summary: In which Kojiro + Kaoru must share a tent, and arguing and reluctant cuddling ensues.
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 2
Kudos: 217





	and there was only one tent

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, I hope its ok :)

“....It’s cold.”  
Kaoru’s brilliant observation came at around 12:30 at night, and around an hour and a half into Kojiro’s useless attempts to fall asleep with the other man shifting and sighing from across their shared tent. Currently, Kojiro was camped out in the middle of nowhere. After multiple discussions about a full fledged group skating trip, Reki had convinced everyone to officially plan out a trip during one of their weekends away from “S”. With the help of Langa, Reki had picked out an obscure but reportedly promising skating course up in the mountains a ways. Kojiro gladly took the weekend off of work, and Hiromi begrudgingly drove the group five hours to their destination. The issue was that there was no nearby hotel, something that Kojiro was lucky enough to hear Kaoru complain about the whole ride. Instead, the group had to settle with outdoor camping for a night. The bad part about that was that among the six of them, they only had five tents between them.  
Hiromi and Langa had both come up with some excuses about snoring and sleep talking and all that, though, to be honest Hiromi wasn’t lying about his snoring problem, and between the remaining four campers, straws had to be drawn to determine who would be sharing a tent for the night. Miya and Reki drew the long sticks, so Kojiro was forced into sharing with Kaoru, because of course he was.  
Kojiro furrowed his brow as he rolled over under his blanket, hearing a loud sigh from Kaoru, laying across from him.  
“Good observation, four-eyes,” was Kojiro’s blunt and awkwardly late response to his rival’s earlier complaint. “It’s Northern Japan in the middle of January, it’s gonna be a little chilly.”  
“Well, obviously,” Kaoru snapped back, sitting up and crossing his arms. “I’m competent enough to predict ahead of time that it’d be cold.”  
“Yeah, but not competent enough to remember your bags, apparently.”  
“Alright Joe, Hiromi is the one who forgot to put my luggage in his vehicle’s trunk, that’s why I’m using Langa’s extra pillow and your disgusting gorilla sweatshirt to fall asleep in,” Kaoru retorted. Kojiro’s eyebrow twitched at the usage of his skating name.  
“Well, Cherry,” Kojiro taunted back, “maybe you should’ve had enough common sense not to leave the luggage loading to Hiromi, you’re lucky enough he managed to remember to put that machine of yours in the trunk with the rest of our bags.”  
“For the last time, that ‘machine’ has a name, and that name is Carla!”  
“I’m just saying that you wouldn’t be so cold and I wouldn’t have to hear you complaining so loud if you would’ve been responsible and kept track of your own bags.”  
“Oh please, don’t talk to me about responsibility, you buffoon, you left your entire suitcase at the airport in Berlin that one time! And I’m just saying that I’m cold, you rude bastard!”  
“I don’t see a reason why I have to listen to you sigh and complain about it for two hours. God you’re soft, Kaoru.”  
“I’m not soft, I’m just cold! It’s freezing out!”  
“...And you were somehow still too much of a dumbass to not keep track of your bags. It’s your own fault, you nasty four-eyes.”  
“Just let me complain, you animal,” the pink haired man sighed a moment later.  
At first he was irritated, but at this point, Kojiro was having fun with the bickering, in spite of his need to sleep. Getting the usually laid back Kaoru riled up and frustrated was one of Kojiro’s many talents, and it was funny to see the other man lose his cool and become upset with just one well placed insult.  
“I’ve let you complain enough, how about you let me sleep?” Kojiro countered back, finally sitting up to get a better view of his temperamental friend.  
“Once again, Kojiro, I’m not used to sleeping outside like an animal. And excuse me if I’m going to complain about it a little, I’m freezing my ass off because the only blanket I have is Reki’s spare fleece My Little Pony blanket from, like, the 80s!” Kaoru fired back, shakily crossing his arms. Kojiro squinted to get a better view, and, holy shit, Kaoru really was shaking. Was he seriously that cold? Damn, there was no way he was going to be able to sleep if he was so cold that he had to shiver.  
“Jesus Kaoru, you’re shaking like hell!” Kaoru opened his mouth to say something, but Kojiro finished talking first. “You’re fragile, aren’t you?”  
Kaoru immediately shut his mouth, then opened it, before shutting it again.  
“Such a princess,” Kojiro prodded even further, and although it was hard to make out in the dark, he was sure that a blush had begun to cover Kaoru’s face, as it always did when Kojiro teased him in just the right way.  
“Just because I’m cold doesn’t mean that I’m fragile or spoiled or... whatever!” Kauro continued on, averting his gaze to the side as Kojiro continued to gaze at his face. Yeah, that was clearly a blush on his friend’s face. Kojiro smirked to himself knowing that he was the one responsible for his friend’s flustered reaction. There was a heavy silence between the two, until Kojiro sighed, stretching his shirtless arms out in front of him.  
“Well, I’m goin’ to try and actually sleep, so why don’t you try and keep it down. Princess.” Kojiro added on as he laid back down on his side, adjusting his blanket and chuckling at the other man’s irritated noises.  
“Thanks for nothing, you insufferable gorilla,” Kaoru mumbled from the other side of the tent.  
“Any time.”  
The tent was silent for a moment, but Kojiro wasn’t exactly ready to fall asleep. He was, admittedly, having fun staying up and bothering his friend, although he was incredibly tired. And plus, Kojiro would be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little bit worried about Kaoru and his state. At this rate, he wasn’t gonna get any sleep if he stayed awake shivering all night. Plus, he was probably gonna continue with his sighing and complaining which would only keep Kojiro awake too, and they had a long day of skating ahead to be rested for. Kojiro began thinking.  
“You know, Cherry, I have two blankets over here, and one of them is pretty heavy,” Kojiro offered. He considered elaborating, but decided to leave it.  
“... Kojiro, I’m not letting you give me your blanket,” Kaoru said after a pause. How sweet.  
“That’s not what I’m sayin’,” Kojiro replied, sure that the other man was picking up what he was putting down. Kojiro could just offer to share his blanket, sure, but he ultimately decided that it would be funnier to make Kauro ask on his own.  
“Wh… are you offering to… share it with me, or something?”  
“It’s either that or you keep me up with your complaining all night,” Kojiro sighed, feigning indifference as he rolled to face his friend. Kaoru was silent for a long while. God, he was such a stubborn bastard.  
“... So what, are you okay with sharing?” Kaoru asked questioningly, his shivering making itself evident in his voice.  
“Don’t know why I’d ask if I wasn’t,” Kojiro shrugged, rolling back over. The two sat in silence for a good while, until finally after what seemed like minutes later, Kojiro heard movement from the other side of the tent. As Kaoru moved across the tent, pillow in hand, mutterings of “this is stupid…” and “I can’t believe this.” could be heard, which only boosted Kojiro’s sense of satisfaction.  
Out of the corner of his eye, Kojiro could see his friend setting his borrowed pillow down as far away from Kojiro’s as possible as he cautiously lifted up the blanket. He paused for a moment, seemingly to speak, but not before Kojiro could.  
“Kaoru, quit acting so shy and just share the blanket with me like I offered,” Kojiro stated, sure that he could get a reaction out of the other man.  
“Wh- I’m not being shy! You don’t- I just… Being so close to your disgusting stench is grossing me out!” Kaoru fired back, not sounding very convinced with himself.  
“Keep the excuses comin’, Kaoru,” Kojiro said, with the goal of pushing even more buttons.  
“What’s that supposed to….” Kaoru began, his voice dying out with a frustrated sigh. Finally, he lifted up the heavy blanket, settling under it as far away from Kojiro as he could possibly get and turning on his side to face away.  
“So dramatic.”  
“Shut up,” Kaoru mumbled.  
Despite Kaoru’s best efforts, Kojiro’s blanket was just a little bit too small to comfortably share without a little bit of physical contact. That’s why when the pink haired man turned to the side, accidentally pulling some of the blanket off of Kojiro, Kojiro sighed and pulled the blanket fully over himself while moving slightly closer to Kaoru so that their backs were touching.  
Kojiro felt his friend stiffen slightly.  
Interesting reaction.  
Kaoru, though, had nothing to say, which came as a surprise to Kojiro. Kaoru was, however, still noticeably shaking. God, did he ever stop shaking?  
“Jesus man, you will not stop shivering,” Kojiro said, his urge to irritate his friend and his need to actually get some sleep finally working together.  
“Well I’m sorry that I’m cold, Kojiro, it’s not like I can do much more about it!”  
“I know I know, it's not your fault that you’re built like a gerbil,” Kojiro retorted back.  
“Oh my god, will you just… shut up, Kojiro! There’s nothing I can do, alright? You’re the most irritating person I’ve ever had to talk to...”  
Well, come to think of it, there was one other solution Kojiro could come up with.  
“Nothing you can do huh?” Kojiro let his sentence linger in the air for a little bit.  
“Oh- Wait, Kojiro, don’t-”  
Before Kaoru’s sentence had even begun, Kojiro rolled himself over, wrapped his right arm around his shivering friend’s waist, and moved his body towards him so that Kaoru’s slender back was flush against his own broad chest, and his ear was right in front of Kojiro’s mouth.  
Kaoru seemed too exasperated to speak properly, and his questions and concerns came out in the form of rapid, angry stammering, and a half assed attempt to escape from his friend’s grasp.  
“Kojiro! You- I- Why did you- What’s- !?!”  
“Take your time, Cherry,” Kojiro replied, tightening his hold on his friend’s waist.  
“What the hell!” Kaoru decided on saying, still struggling in Kojiro’s arms.  
“Hey, you said you were cold. This will warm you up,” the green haired man stated simply. “Stop acting like a rabid animal, and let me help you out,” he said, purposefully angling his neck downwards so that his soft words went directly into Kaour’s ear. He was certain he could feel a shudder going through his friend’s body as he stopped his struggling, this one different from the ones brought on by the cold. Noticing the effect the action had on his friend, Kojiro made a mental note to try it again sometime.  
God, would Kojiro love to see the pink flush he was certain covered Kaoru’s face as he held him in his arms. Imagining his friend’s face covered in an embarrassed blush made Kojiro feel ways he wasn’t ready to address, and he was quick to convince himself that it was the satisfaction he got out of annoying and one-upping his friend that made his stomach twist in some sort of happy way. But God, the shorter man was always so fast to blush whenever Kojiro said anything remotely suggestive or touched him in any kind of way. It was always funny, but normally Kojiro wasn’t this bold with his teasing. Maybe it was his tiredness that was making him so eager to fluster his rival. Or something else.  
“...Whoever wakes us up in the morning is gonna see us like this,” Kaoru cautiously said after a long stretch of silence between the two.  
“See us like what, like we’re cuddling?” Kojiro commented after a moment, awaiting an outburst from his rival with a smirk.  
“Sh- Shut up Joe!” Kaoru hissed, right on cue.  
“So what if they see? You were cold and being annoying, so I did what I had to do to keep you warm,” the taller man said, once again putting extra effort into directing his words into his friend’s ear, soliciting a suppressed shudder in response.  
“Don’t… ugh.” the shorter man said with frustration, among other things, in his voice.  
“Besides, I can wake up early in the morning and force you to stop snuggling onto me before anyone sees. That is, if you let me get some damn sleep.”  
“I wish you would stop wording things like that,” Kaoru mumbled, his embarrassment obvious in his voice, although he slightly shifted backwards into Kojiro’s grip.  
“Goodnight, Kaoru,” Kojiro offered simply. He got no reply, but continued to adjust his grip on his friend so that he could hold him as close to his body as possible. Kojiro smiled to himself. His goal had been to shut Kaoru up so that he could finally get some rest, but the current, uh, situation the two were in was causing Kojiro’s mind to be active, to say the least.  
Kojiro took extra effort to slide his hips away from his friend to avoid a potentially awkward predicament, but as he did, he realized that Kaoru was still slightly shaking, even as he was held tight in Kojiro’s grasp.  
In one last effort to warm up his friend and, admittedly, satisfy his own urges, Kojiro brought his left hand out from it’s resting place at his side, and gently placed it on the back of Kaoru’s head. He paused for a moment as he felt his friend tense up slightly.  
“This okay?” he asked, suddenly hyper aware and slightly concerned that he had potentially crossed some boundaries. Come to think of it, had he been making the other man uncomfortable this whole time? He was under the impression that it was all just banter, but if Kaoru was seriously uncomfortable…  
“...Yeah, Just- whatever,” Kaoru said before Kojiro could finish his thinking, his voice strained and limited by a held back sigh that even Kojiro could tell was building up.  
“Ok,” Kojiro said, before tentatively lacing his fingers into his friend’s hair. He made small circles into the other man’s scalp, massaging his skull, admiring the softness of his hair because really, how did it get that soft??? Several minutes passed like this, Kaoru was no longer shivering, and Kojiro reveled in the way his friend’s body relaxed and smiled about the suppressed sighs of satisfaction he could hear Kaoru softly make.  
That would’ve been a great time to just leave it, and let both himself and his friend fall asleep. But man, was Kojiro getting some entertainment out of this all. Yeah, that’s all it was. Entertainment. Right then would’ve been the perfect time to shut up and go to sleep, but for what felt like the 20th time that night, Kojiro’s desire to rile his friend up overpowered any other urge he had, and he found himself talking before he could even stop himself.  
“So, no thank you or anything?” Kojiro muttered into Kaoru’s ear, tightening his grip in the other man’s long hair.  
“I- I hate you,” Kaoru said with a shiver, his voice pitched up as he shifted backwards into Kojiro’s body in spite of his supposed hatred.  
Normally Kojiro would immediately respond to such a lame insult, but his tiredness was definitely getting to him. He was just so… comfortable. But the more he thought about it, the more his need to sleep felt inferior to the need to piss his rival off. Their banter felt... different tonight. He wanted to see where this was going. Still, he should probably just let it go and actually get some rest…  
“...Your body language says otherwise,” Kojiro said, in spite of himself.


End file.
